Former Lyon Gestapo Chief Charged Again In New Case

Former Lyon Gestapo Chief Charged Again In New Case

CHARLES CAMPBELL

Jun. 26, 1987

LYON, France (AP) _ Klaus Barbie, on trial for crimes against humanity, was charged Friday in a new case that could bring about a second trial of the former Lyon Gestapo chief.

The new charges were laid by judicial authorities in a case brought by relatives of two men Barbie arrested with Resistance hero Jean Moulin.

An investigating magistrate will review the new charges, which also allege crimes against humanity, and determine whether Barbie will face another trial.

In the current trial, whose verdict is expected at the end of next week, Barbie is accused of arresting and deporting hundreds of Jews and Resistance members, including 44 Jewish children rounded up in April 1944 at a foster home in rural Izieu east of Lyon.

The last of 39 lawyers for Barbie's alleged victims to make closing statements was former Foreign Minister Roland Dumas, himself a former Resistance member.

Dumas told the jury on Friday that their verdict would be ''the shroud of the children of Izieu,'' who have no tombs.

''Do not forget the faces of the children of Izieu,'' another civil lawyer, Alain Jakubowicz, told the court in his closing argument. ''It is the face of humanity.''

The trial opened May 11 after four years of preparation. The jury heard the testimony of 105 witnesses and on June 17, lawyers for the civil parties began their closing statements. The prosecution is to close on Monday and Tuesday, followed by the defense.

Three judges and the nine-member jury then deliberate together on a verdict, with eight votes out of the 12 sufficient for conviction.

Barbie, 73, was not in court. He has refused to attend the trial, claiming his 1983 expulsion from Bolivia was illegal, but has been forced to appear in the courtroom twice to be identified by witnesses.

The new charges were filed at the request of Charlotte Larat, whose brother Bruno Larat was arrested with Moulin and deported to his death. Joining her was the widow of Andre Lassagne, who was arrested at the same time and survived deportation but has since died.

Moulin was perhaps the most celebrated hero of the French Resistance. He was questioned in Lyon, then taken to Gestapo headquarters in Paris, and apparently died while being transported by train to Germany.

After the war, Barbie worked as an agent for U.S. Army intelligence, which helped him flee to South America in 1951 when the French began pressing to bring him to trial.

Barbie was convicted in absentia of war crimes in the 1950s and sentenced to death - a penalty which has since been abolished in France - but the 20- year statute of limitations for war crimes has now expired.

If convicted for crimes against humanity, for which there is no statute of limitations, Barbie could be sentenced to life in prison.